"What is her name, and what has she done?" indifferently.
"Her name I can not tell you, Paul."
"Can not? Why not 'will not'?"
"Will not, then. I have given my promise."
"Have I ever kept a secret from you, Victor?"
"One."
"Name it."
"That mysterious mademoiselle whom you call Diane. You have never even told me what she looks like."
"I could not if I tried. But this woman in the mask; at least you might tell me what she has done."
"Politics. Conspiracy, like misery, loves company. … Who has been burning paper?" sniffing.